The Southern Baptist Convention will begin in one week in Indianapolis. There will be a record of six men who have announced their intention to run for the office of President. I find that very positive for Southern Baptist life. When I was elected as the Second Vice President of the Convention, there was no one who ran against those of us seeking the top three positions. I hoped that that would never happen again. It is good when we have a choice of leadership instead of a small group of men meeting in a back room deciding who will be our leader. We are on the right track.

The election should be positive and exciting. However I have a great fear. We have some very definite problems in the convention. For the first time in 150 years, we are losing members. This point had been coming for several years, thus we should not be surprised. Those of us running will often use a form of impressive rhetoric to say that we will promote evangelism, discipleship, and missions. I wish that talk alone would change things. Several years ago, we elected the best man in the convention to lead us in evangelistic fervor. Bobby Welch was elected president. He did all he could do to turn the ship around, but even under his able leadership, our baptisms declined. Words alone will not cut it. We need new and creative ways to bring about missional advance. In comparing my agenda with what the others have promised to do, I feel that my plans are the most practical and if realized can help us in our goal to once again have a growing Convention. What would I do?

1. My first act would be to call all Southern Baptists to a Solemn Assembly. A date would be determined, probably in October before the national election. All Southern Baptist churches would be encouraged to open their churches on a Friday night, the following Saturday and up to Sunday so that their members and others could come to simply pray, fast, confess our sins, and seek the face of God. There would not be a budget, special speakers, new programs, etc. We would seek God’s help in our country for the up-coming elections and for our Convention so that we could return to the basics. It would be based upon the biblical Solemn Assembly as found in the Old Testament.

2. I would appoint an Ad Hoc committee to explore ways to better use our university students in missions. I would present to the committee my “New Antioch Plan” which calls for many of our students to go on a two year mission both in the U.S.A. and overseas to do evangelistic work. They would be sent by their churches but would work with the NAMB and IMB. We would encourage parents to begin savings accounts for the future mission work of their children. This plan would be financed by the families and friends of those doing the mission work. I do not feel that it will have a negative effect of the CP but rather will bring new members into our churches and thus the CP would increase. If any one is interested in the complete plan I could send it to them. I have presented this plan to over 1000 Southern Baptist leaders, pastors, Directors of Missions, missionaries, and laypeople. Over 90% have been very supportive and have asked why we have not done this before now. If we receive the approval of the committee, we could begin at once and have thousands of our best young people doing this form of missions within five years. This would be the single best way to increase our baptisms.

3. I would appoint a second Ad Hoc committee that would look into two aspects of our work. First, they would study our public relations, especially with the secular media. I feel that we are losing the battle in winning the support and respect of most Americans. A little more effort in this area would bring positive results and I feel that our reputation would benefit greatly. The second emphasis would be the use of the Internet and other new technological advances in missions and evangelism. My University- Olivet International University is one of Christianity’s leaders in this area. If you are interested you can look on the web and find the most visited websites in the world under religion. The last time I looked the first two most visited websites were Muslim. The third was my school’s website, the Christian Post, followed by a new Age site and then a Mormon site. Southern Baptists were no where to be found. We have only begun to use the Internet in the area of evangelism and discipleship. This committee would study the possibilities and make recommendations to our agencies as to what we can do.

In each of my ten points in my “Contract with Southern Baptists” I would find practical ways to implement my dreams. I will be a doer and not just a figurehead. I realize that the power of the president is limited but I also realize that Southern Baptists today really want to get on with accomplishing our Lord’s command to make disciples of all nations.

Let’s get real and find new methods that will once again make us the leaders for evangelism and missions in the world.